


Epitaxis

by PhoenixAccio



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Muteness, Nosebleed, Other, They/Them Pronouns for Psycho Mantis, just slightly post-mgsv, mantis's english is Not The Best but theyre trying, so theyre Babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28204407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixAccio/pseuds/PhoenixAccio
Summary: Eli keeps getting nosebleeds. Tretij is worried.
Relationships: Liquid Snake & Psycho Mantis, Liquid Snake/Psycho Mantis
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	Epitaxis

Tretij's sense of smell wasn't the best, but they knew blood when they smelt it and it was putting them on edge. 

At first they had thought they were imagining it, or some part of their face had opened up again, but when they checked their face it was dry, and their imagination was _not_ this vivid. 

Tretij drifted through the house they and Eli were squatting in, checking each room for their friend one by one. 

Eli was in the bathroom when Tretij found him, leaning over the sink. Tretij moved to hover behind Eli in the mirror before giving him a mental nudge to get his attention. 

Eli, feeling the intrusion, looked up and jumped when he saw Tretij, before doubling over in a wet-sounding coughing fit. With a little alarmed gasp, Tretij pushed a quick _sorry!_ into Eli's mind. Eli gave what was probably a nod between coughs, taking what breath he could before starting up again. 

Eventually Eli recovered enough to speak. 

"Jesus, Tretij, don't sneak up on me like that, I should put a bell on you!" 

_Sorry,_ Tretij repeated. Eli's tone was snappish, but they could feel he wasn't really angry. _Okay?_

"Yeah, I'm fine," Eli replies. "Choked on blood." 

Blood indeed. As Eli straightened fully, Tretij could see the source of the smell seeping out scarlet from between Eli's fingers to drip into the sink. Eli pulled his hand away, bringing a blood-soaked tissue with it, and groaned, annoyed. 

"Tretij, can you get me another one?" Eli asked, glancing at the bloody mass in his hand. Tretij nodded, and pulled the box towards them with a thought. Eli immediately dropped his current tissue in the sink to replace with a fresh wad. 

Between tissues, Tretij saw that Eli's face was stained pink with remnants of the blood pouring from his nose. 

_Eli!_ Tretij said into his mind, alarmed. _You are bleeding?_

"Yeah, I am," Eli said, his voice muffled and funny-sounding through a pinched nose. "'S just a nosebleed, don't worry about it." 

_Bleeding is not good!_ Tretij insisted, frustrated at Eli's indifference to the potential injury. 

"I'm fine, Tretij, it happens sometimes. See? It's slowing down already." 

Tretij eyed Eli dubiously from behind their mask. It did not look like it was slowing down. 

Sure enough, though, the blood did eventually taper off. 

"See? Fine," Eli said, making a very obnoxious 'told you' face before throwing out the bloody tissues in the bathroom bin. Tretij stuck their tongue out, even though Eli wouldn't see it, and sat back in midair to watch Eli wash the blood off his skin. 

The next nosebleed was a couple nights later. Tretij woke up scared and not sure why, and it took them too long to separate the thick metallic smell around them from the sensations of a nightmare. They furrowed their brows, processing. They could feel Eli asleep beside them and knew he was fine, and a touch to their maskless face confirmed the blood wasn't theirs, so what was it? 

Tretij lit a flame at their fingertips, carefully focusing on keeping it contained, and used it as a light source to inspect the vicinity. Sure enough, there was a dark patch in the worn-out mattress, right by Eli's face and catching the light wetly. 

_Eli,_ Tretij thought at him, extinguishing the flame to prod at Eli's shoulder. _Wake up. Hi._

Eli groaned, sniffling and half-conciously rubbing at his nose. 

_Hey. Eli,_ Tretij repeated. _You wake up please?_

They poked at Eli's shoulder again, and then his face. 

_Eli._

Finally, Eli began to stir properly, scrunching his eyes shut as he rolled onto his back. 

"What do you want, Tretij? Go to _sleep."_

_You are bleeding,_ Tretij informed Eli matter-of-factly. _From nose._

Eli frowned, touching his face and inspecting his hand when it came away wet. 

"Huh. You're right." 

With that, Eli pushed himself to his feet and headed to the bathroom to try and stem the bleeding, Tretij trailing behind. 

_There is blood on mattress now,_ Tretij commented. 

"Not much we can do about that," Eli replied, grabbing a tissue and pinching his nose shut. Mantis shrugged. 

By the time the bleeding stopped, Tretij was beginning to droop again. Eli's blood on the mattress was dry already, and Tretij was asleep the moment they lay down. 

Tretij didn't like arguing with Eli, but it tended to happen when Eli was stressed and he and Tretij's psychic link usually meant a feedback loop that riled them both up until someone got fed up and left for an hour or so. 

Apparently, the loop could also be broken by blood suddenly gushing from Eli's nose mid-yell. Tretij yelped at the sudden spurt of red, which hurt their throat. Behind them, the lightbulb popped loudly and went out. 

Tretij and Eli stared at each other in shocked silence. A trail of blood crept down Eli's chin and dripped onto his chest, and Eli reached up absently to pinch his nostrils shut. 

Tretij dropped out of the air to their feet, legs shaking slightly as they adjusted to actually holding weight. 

_Eli?_ Mantis asked into Eli's head, taking a tentative step forwards. 

"Shut up, I'm fine," Eli muttered. "Can you get--" 

Tretij nodded before Eli could finish, and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. 

Tretij grabbed the box of tissues from the bathroom counter, cradling awkwardly it in their arms and pausing to examine themself in the mirror. Suddenly, they were struck by the possibility that the nosebleeds might be their fault. 

Tretij had done that kind of thing before. In the hospital, they'd made several doctors bleed who wouldn't leave Tretij alone. It happened sometimes, if Tretij pulled too hard. They'd never done it by accident before, but maybe it was just something that happened if you were around them too long. Tretij had been leaving their mask off at night, they realized, after some pressing from Eli that it couldn't be comfortable. Could that have been it? It was more comfortable, Eli was right, and it was nice not to be left alone with their dreams, but now Tretij felt a sense of crushing guilt at the possibility that they were hurting Eli even unintentionally for such a petty thing. 

Tretij didn't want to teleport anymore, with this in mind. They didn't particularly want to use any of their powers if it could be hurting their friend. Tretij opened the bathroom door using a sleeve-covered hand, scowling as the fabric slid, and pushed it open, walking shakily into the hallway to give Eli the tissues. 

"Took you long enough," Eli grumbled, holding out his free hand. Tretij deposited some tissues dutifully into his palm, and watched as Eli pressed them to his face. 

"S-sorry," Tretij whispered hoarsley, voice cracking with disuse as the words burned in their throat. 

Eli looked up, shocked to hear Tretij's voice outside his own head. 

"What do you mean, sorry?" Eli replied incredulously. "What are you sorry for? You didn't _make_ me get a nosebleed, it's not like you hit me." 

Tretij shook their head, hugging themself with their arms. 

"What do you mean, _no?"_ Eli asked. 

"My fault," Tretij croaked. Before Eli could argue, Tretij spoke again. "I caused nosebleed." 

"What do you mean, you caused it?" Eli said, as if it were the most ridiculous thing in the world. "You didn't do anything." 

"I did! I do this before, in hospital, make people bleed!" Tretij insisted. 

"Well you-- That was different, Tretij, they were hurting you!" 

"I am hurting you!" 

Eli looked like he wanted to argue, but didn't say anything. 

Tretij swallowed, throat aching from the way they had yelled. 

"I-- I am hurting you, Eli. I am not safe. My-- I hurt your head." 

"Tretij," Eli said softly, expression inscrutable. 

The lenses of Tretij's mask were fogging from the wetness on their cheeks, but they didn't dare take it off to wipe at the tears lest they hurt Eli further. 

"Tretij, you aren't hurting me. It's okay. I--" Eli took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before speaking. "The nosebleeds aren't new, Tretij, I get them when it's cold, I think. I haven't had one in years, Africa was always too warm. I promise I'm alright." 

_Oh,_ Tretij thought. They guessed that made sense. 

"You are sure?" they asked quietly. 

"I'm sure, Tretij, I promise." Eli nodded, smiling just a bit. He pulled the tissue away from his nose, which was no longer bleeding, but didn't go to throw it out. 

Tretij sighed, sitting down on the floor, and finally pushed their hands up to finally wipe their teary eyes. Eli kicked the tissue box over to them from where it lay on the floor--Tretij must have dropped it--and they took a tissue and dutifully attempted to dry their face. They felt a little bit silly now for getting so scared, but they really did not want to hurt the only person who had ever properly cared about them. 

Eli slipped out of the room for a moment to throw his tissues away, but quickly returned, dropping down to sit beside Tretij on the floor. 

"It's fine, Tretij," Eli reassured them firmly. Then, with some difficulty, added, "I'm sorry I made you upset." 

Tretij looked up at Eli out of the corner of their eye, tilting their head slightly. Their throat hurt, and they found themself quietly grateful they could use their thoughts again without worry about hurting Eli in the process. 

_It is fine,_ Tretij replied sincerely. _I am glad you are okay._

"Glad you're okay too," Eli grinned, lopsided and real, and left to go wash his face. Exhausted from the stress, Tretij was asleep before Eli got back.


End file.
